Spokane Tribe Casino Accident: 27-year-old construction worker killed in collapse

An accident at the construction site of the Spokane Tribe Casino's new five-storey hotel left a 27-year-old construction worker dead. The incident took place on the morning of Tuesday, March 7.

The construction worker has been identified as Ana Vetter. She had been working on the expansion project at the Spokane Tribe Casino for the past few months after becoming a journeyman carpenter.

The general manager of Spokane Tribe, Javier De La Rosa, said that they received a call about an accident on their construction site on Tuesday morning. He further stated that the investigation is ongoing to determine if anyone else was injured in the incident.

Swinerton, the construction company building the hotel, said that the formwork collapsed and led to the construction worker's death.

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Swinerton company released a statement about the incident at Spokane Tribe Casino

Swinerton released a statement on their website. Addressing the incident at Spokane Tribe Casino which resulted in the death of a subcontractor employee working on-site, the company said that emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene. The statement added that they are actively working with local authorities and OSHA to investigate the incident.

The statement read,

"Emergency services were immediately called to the scene and the area was secured. Unfortunately, the efforts of medical personnel were unsuccessful. There were no other workers involved or injured in the incident."

It was further mentioned,

"The circumstances of this situation are unclear at this time and it is too early to speculate on what may have been the cause of this incident. Safety is our number one priority, when something like this happens it is our responsibility to find out why. Our Management and Safety teams are onsite and currently working together with investigating authorities to find out the exact cause. When it is known we will make information available so it may help others."

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Parents of the construction worker who passed away in the accident are mourning her demise

Ana Vetter's parents, Paul and Sandio Vetter, received a call on Tuesday from their daughter's fiance about her demise.

Ana's mother said,

"He just said there was an accident on the job site where Ana was working and she's gone."

Ana's parents said that even hours after the incident took place, they did not get any calls from the Spokane Tribe Casino or the construction company letting them know about Ana. The information they received was from Ana's fiance, as per KREM2.

Her parents also said that Ana recently bought a home in Nine Mile Falls and was happy with her fiance and four dogs.